Qualcomm has introduced a brand new vary of chips aimed squarely at gaming handhelds. The best spec mannequin, the Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 2, is alleged to be over twice as quick as its predecessor. So, can it take the combat to the Steam Deck and even AMD’s superior Phoenix APU in handheld’s just like the Asus ROG Ally?
The brand new Snapdragon vary for gaming handhelds contains three chips. Together with the aforementioned G3x Gen 2 are the G1 and the G2. The G1 is an ultra-low energy merchandise designed to help recreation streaming on a handheld relatively than operating video games domestically, whereas the G2 is a mid-tier merchandise analogous to a smartphone processor.
So, we are able to finally dispence with the G1 and G2, they do not transfer the needle for efficiency. However what about that Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 beast? How does it examine to the AMD Aerith APU within the Steam Deck or the much more highly effective AMD Phoenix chip within the Asus ROG Ally and the plethora of gaming handhelds, new examples of which appear to look virtually day by day?
That is fairly onerous to say given the wildly differing architectures and OS platforms. The G3x Gen 2 rocks an eight-core ARM CPU and peaks at round 15 to 18 watts, which is unquestionably extra Steam Deck than ROG Ally when it comes to energy consumption. Its Adreno A32 GPU is alleged to be over twice as quick as that of the G3x Gen 1 as used within the Razer Edge handheld, however it most likely must be given that could be a streaming-focussed machine relatively than one thing constructed to run AAA video games domestically.
When requested immediately by the Verge how the brand new chip compares to the plain handheld gaming incumbents, Qualcomm gaming director Mithun Chandrasekhar did not give a direct response, saying relatively bombastically, “I can theoretically crank the efficiency to 2GHz and beat the residing s*** out of different handheld units, however then you definately’d get half-hour of battery life.”
That means the G3x Gen 2 is prioritising battery life over outright efficiency, making it very completely different to the newest AMD Phoenix-powered handhelds which have very restricted run time on battery, particularly taking part in demanding video games in increased efficiency modes.
That stated, Qualcomm has produced a reference handheld design based mostly across the chip that appears each bit the Steam Deck killer. It sports activities a 6.8-inch 1080p-plus OLED sdisplay operating at 144Hz, packs 12GB of DDR5 and the chip additionally helps correct PCIe 4.0-spec SSD storage. So, yeah, this ain’t no glorified cellphone.
The actual downside for these Qualcomm chips, in fact, is software program and recreation help. The variety of what you may name high-end video games on Android is vanishingly few. Which begs the query of whether or not Qualcomm plans to help some form of transcoding platform that might permit Home windows video games to run on the chip, very like Valve’s Proton and Apple’s Recreation Porting Toolkit layers?
The easy reply is sure, Qualcomm is engaged on that. The extra sophisticated reply involving precise particulars we’ll have to attend for.
All stated and completed, then, the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 does not instantly appear to have the makings of a Deck killer, a lot much less one thing that may tackle an Asus ROG Ally for pure efficiency.
Sure, the G3x Gen 2 appears to be pitched roughly at Steam Deck ranges of efficiency, which is not any dangerous factor. It is simply that does not go away a whole lot of efficiency on the desk for operating non native x86 Home windows code in some form of compatibility mode.
At the very least in relation to moveable PC gaming, subsequently, these new Qualcomm chips most likely aren’t going to have a lot affect.
